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Matthew "FormaL" Piper is a professional Call of Duty player and a retired professional Halo player, from the United States. He is currently playing for OpTic Gaming. For information on his Halo career, visit his Halo Esportspedia page

Biography

The End of an Era and the Search for a New eSport

Formal began his competitive gaming career in the Halo franchise. After rising to fame as a Halo professional, he began to look elsewhere to continue his electronic sports endeavors. Following Halo's fall from the Major League Gaming Pro Circuit, Formal noticed the rising popularity and competition in Call of Duty. Like many other Halo players looking to find another game to go pro in, Formal decided to try his hand at the world's most popular first-person shooter.

The Beginning of His Call of Duty Career and the Rest of the Ghosts Season

However, unlike many of his peers, he was successful. He first joined Primal in his Call of Duty career, and went on to place 17th with them at MLG Columbus of 2013 while competing in Call of Duty: Ghosts. Shortly after, he was recruited by one of the most storied franchises in competitive Call of Duty, Team FeaR.

After staying with Team FeaR for a relatively short period of time, FormaL joined Team Kaliber and competed with them at the Call of Duty World Championship 2014, but following a disappointing event in which they finished 13th-16th. FormaL left to join the newly formed FaZe Black squad. The team which consisted of ProoFy, Saints, and Censor. With the addition of FormaL, this new team was seen by many as a 'god squad', one that would be able to finally overcome compLexity. However, the team never achieved any real success.

After many team changes following MLG Anaheim, FormaL decided to take his raw slaying ability to EnVyUs. The team of MerK, NameLeSs, JKap and FormaL immediately made an impact at their first event together, Gfinity III in London. The team had a fantastic event, sweeping Epsilon eSports 3-0 in the Grand Final, taking home $30,000 in prize money. This event cemented FormaL in the history books, as he became the first professional gamer to win a major LAN event in both Call of Duty and Halo. FormaL and EnVyUs looked to take this form back into the US at UMG Dallas and they did just this, finishing second to a very in form Denial whom had looked strong all tournament long. FormaL himself was involved in a small amount of roster controversy following Karma leaving Evil Geniuses. He was widely considered as the favorite to fill Karma's spot at Evil Geniuses and was even linked with Optic Gaming but in the end stayed with EnVyUs and won the MLG CoD League Season 3 Playoffs.

After a disapointing loss in the last event, OpTic Gaming headed into UMG Orlando 2015, again with the 1st seed. They made it difficult for themselves, after losing both Pool Play matches on friday 3-0 against Stunner Gaming and Team Revenge. With the help from the other teams in the Pool, OpTic Gaming advanced to the Winners Bracket after winning their last two matches. From there they advanced to the Grand Final and placed 1st after beating Stunner Gaming 3-1.

After storming through Season 1 of the MLG Pro League with a 38-6 record, the OpTic boys entered the playoffs with the #1 seed. They stormed though the event taking down Rise Nation, Aware NA, Team Kaliber in a closely contested 5 game series and Denial in the Grand Final to take home the Championship and $30,000.

Just two weeks later, the team took home another event win at the Call of Duty Championship NA Regional event as they only lost one map throughout the entire weekend, going an impressive 18-1 in map count. They defeated top team such as tK, nV, FaZe Red and finally Denial in the Grand Final, defeating Denial 3-0 in the Final for the second straight event. This left them with the number one seed for Call of Duty Championship and having won the past three events, they were the heavy favourites to take home the main prize.

At the main event at the end of March, OpTic were placed in Group A along with Vitality X, Team Orbit and NxG Rapid. It was regular business for the team in group play as they finished 3-0 in the group. As the tournament rolled onto Day 2 and Bracket Play, OpTic were drawn against rivals Denial in the first round of the Winner's Bracket. They were slow out of the gate as they fell 3-1 to Denial. They matched up against Below Zero in Loser's Round 1 where they defeated them 3-0. They then moved onto Strictly Business in Loser's Round 2 where they won 3-1. However, the team faced another road block as they matched up against FaZe Red who defeated OpTic 3-0, eliminating the tournament favourites. OpTic placed 7th taking home $35,000.

Trivia

FormaL began his eSports career as a Halo competitor, who had won 7 events in three different Halo games.

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